Lonely Planet’s teamed up with Eurail.com to give you the chance of winning a one-month European train pass. There are ten up for grabs, five Eurail passes for non-European residents, and five Interrail passes for European residents, and with unlimited travel you can kick back and discover Europe at your own pace, from the sunny shores of Portugal to the pine forests of Finland.

Now the time has come. I have set up my own rules when it comes to participating in a travel competition. But the real question is how can one get information about such competitions on Internet? Neither easy nor tough.

Have a look at the points mentioned below carefully, if you want to win free trips 🙂

1) Get yourself subscribed to the official tourism sites of affluent countries. Once you subscribe them, you will start receiving exclusive contest details as well as good travel packages straight into your inbox. A smart advise – “Don’t subscribe to every country’s tourism sites and prefer only rich nations”. For example, go for Germany. http://www.germany.travel/en/index.html

In the past three months, I have participated in exclusive travel giveaways organised by British Tourism Board, Estonia Tourism Board and Iceland. For better chances of winning a competition, follow their Facebook and Twitter accounts. You will get to know exclusive information about travel contests and deals.

2) Compile a list of world’s top airlines and subscribe them. But don’t forget to follow their Facebook pages. Many airlines such as Emirates, Swiss Airlines and Lufthansa conduct travel contests frequently only on Facebook. I had won free flight tickets to Netherlands, courtesy Lufthansa but unfortunately I got my visa rejected.

3) World’s top travel magazines are one of the best sources for getting information on a travel contest. Online magazines like ‘Ifly‘ and ‘Destina Asian‘ hold travel contests every month. I am an active participant in their contests.

4) Who does not like to stay in a resort that too for free? So start compiling a list of world’s top elite hotels and resorts such as Accord and Banyan Tree Holdings. Follow them on social media and subscribe their mails. You will get to know many travel contests. Most of them are very simple. You will be just asked to fill a form.

6) World’s leading travel agencies such as ‘On The Go Tours‘, ‘Tour Radar‘, conduct travel competitions frequently. Follow their Facebook pages and get information about giveaways.

Before participating in a travel contest, do not forget to read their terms and conditions carefully. Sometimes, people participate without reading the terms and conditions. Every contest has it own rules.

At last there is no such guarantee that you will win a contest by just filling a form.

In my case, it is 70% luck, 20% hard work and 10% trick that has been bringing fortunes for me. 🙂